Chronological

12 During Jehu’s seventh year, Jehoash inherited the throne in Jerusalem. His reign lasted for 40 years. His mother was Zibiah of Beersheba. ² Jehoash was righteous in the Eternal’s eyes during the entire time he was mentored by Jehoiada the priest. ³ But the high places remained. They were not destroyed, and people still went to them to offer sacrifices and burn incense.

⁶ During King Jehoash’s 23rd year, the Eternal One’s temple was only getting worse because the priests had not used any money to repair the Eternal One’s house. ⁷ So King Jehoash questioned Jehoiada and the other priests.

⁸ The priests agreed they would not take any more monetary offerings from anyone, and they would not repair the Eternal’s temple.

^9-10 Jehoiada the priest gouged a hole in the lid of a chest and set it next to the altar. He put it on the right side of the altar, so that everyone walked past it as they entered into the Eternal’s temple. The priests who stood at the entrance placed all the monetary offerings that were carried into the Eternal’s temple into the chest. When the chest was almost full, the king’s secretary and the high priest counted the money and placed it into separate bags. ¹¹ They handed the money to the workers who took care of the Eternal’s temple, and then handed out money to the carpenters and builders who repaired it, ¹² and they also gave some of the money to the masons and stonecutters who paid for the wood and carved stone and other materials that went into repairing the Eternal’s temple. ¹³ None of the monetary offerings that were given to the Eternal’s temple were used to make silver cups, snuffers, bowls, trumpets, gold vessels, or silver vessels. ¹⁴ All the money went to those who repaired the Eternal’s temple for their work. ¹⁵ The priests did not ask for any receipts or documentation to be made of the financial handlings. The workers were completely trustworthy and did not cheat. ¹⁶ Any monetary offerings—be they guilt offerings or sin offerings—still belonged to the priests and were not carried into the Eternal’s temple.

¹⁷ Meanwhile Hazael (Aram’s king) was fighting Gath in Philistia, and he took the entire city captive. Then he put his sights on Jerusalem. ¹⁸ Jehoash, Judah’s king, gathered up all the sacred articles that his ancestors, Judah’s kings—Jehoshaphat and Jehoram and Ahaziah—had consecrated, as well as all the many articles he himself had consecrated. He gathered up all the gold in the treasuries in the Eternal’s temple and in the palace, and he sent it all to Hazael, Aram’s king. After that, Hazael departed from Jerusalem.

¹⁹ Is not the rest of Jehoash’s^[a] story—his actions and lasting legacy—documented in the book of the chronicles of Judah’s kings? ²⁰ Those who served Joash plotted against him, and they killed him at the house of Millo while he was on his way to Silla.

²¹ Joash’s own servants, Jozacar (Shimeath’s son) and Jehozabad (Shomer’s son) were the ones who assassinated him. They laid him to rest with his ancestors in the city of David. Joash’s son, Amaziah, then inherited the throne.

13 When Joash, son of Ahaziah and king of Judah, had ruled Judah 23 years, Jehoahaz (Jehu’s son) succeeded his father as king of Israel in Samaria. He sat upon the throne for 17 years. ² Jehoahaz committed evil in the Eternal’s eyes. He walked the wicked path of Jeroboam (Nebat’s son) causing the Israelites to live sinful lives. Jehoahaz did not abandon Jeroboam’s sins.

³ The Eternal’s wrath burned against Israel, and He handed them over to Hazael, Aram’s king, and to Ben-hadad, Hazael’s son. ⁴ Jehoahaz begged for the Eternal One to hear him, and the Eternal granted his desperate request and listened to him. He perceived the suffering of Israel, and He knew how Aram’s king caused that suffering. ⁵ The Eternal One sent a savior, so that they escaped from the rule of the Arameans. The Israelites then went back to living in their own tents. ⁶ Even though they escaped from the Arameans, the Israelites continued walking the wicked path that they had learned from the family of Jeroboam—the path that caused the Israelites to live sinful lives. The sacred poles were not demolished in Samaria either. They remained standing and in use. ⁷ Jehoahaz’s army was decimated. He was left with only 50 horsemen, 10 chariots, and 10,000 foot soldiers at most. Aram’s king had killed everyone else. They were trampled like dust on the ground.

⁸ Is not the rest of Jehoahaz’s story—his actions and lasting legacy—documented in the book of the chronicles of Israel’s kings? ⁹ Jehoahaz left this world to sleep with his fathers and was laid to rest in Samaria. His son, Joash, then inherited the throne.

¹⁰ During the 37th year of Joash of Judah’s reign, Jehoash (Jehoahaz’s son) inherited the throne of Israel in Samaria. His reign lasted 16 years. ¹¹ He committed evil in the Eternal’s eyes. He walked the wicked path of Jeroboam (Nebat’s son)—causing the Israelites to live sinful lives.

¹² Is not the rest of the story of Joash (King of Israel)—his actions and his courage toward Amaziah, Judah’s king—documented in the book of the chronicles of Israel’s kings? ¹³ Joash of Israel left this world to sleep with his fathers and was laid to rest in Samaria with Israel’s kings. Jeroboam then inherited the throne.

¹⁴ Now Elisha was sick with a terminal illness; and Joash, Israel’s king, came to visit him. He cried over Elisha,

Joash did as Elisha instructed and brought a bow and some arrows back to Elisha’s bedside.

So Joash gripped the bow, and Elisha placed his hands over the king’s hands.

So Joash opened the window.

So Joash drew back the bow and launched the arrow as far as he could.

So Joash took the arrows.

So Joash hit the ground three times and stood up. ¹⁹ But the man of God became angry at this.

²⁰ Elisha then died and was laid to rest.

The Moabite bandits used to storm the land every spring. It was expected by the people. ²¹ During the springtime, while a group of men were out burying a man, they spied a gang of bandits approaching them. They became afraid, so they threw the dead man’s body into Elisha’s grave. As soon as the dead man’s body touched the bones of Elisha, the dead man miraculously came back to life and stood up.

²² Hazael, Aram’s king, persecuted and abused the Israelites all during Jehoahaz’s reign. ²³ But the Eternal One was gracious and compassionate toward them. He was good and turned his face to them because of the covenant He had made with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. The Eternal, true to His promise, had protected them and remained near them until now.

²⁴ After Hazael (Aram’s king) died, his son, Ben-hadad, inherited the throne. ²⁵ Jehoash, the king of Israel and Jehoahaz’s son, captured the same cities from Ben-hadad (Hazael’s son) that Ben-hadad had captured from his father, Jehoahaz. Joash crushed him and delivered Israel’s cities three different times just as Elisha had prophesied.

24 Joash, whose mother Zibiah was from Beersheba, was only seven years old when he became king. He reigned 40 years in Jerusalem ² and followed the ways of the Eternal only as long as Jehoiada the priest was alive. ³ Jehoiada was like a father to Joash, finding two wives for the king, who would father sons and daughters and reconstitute the Davidic line.

⁴ After he had established his family, Joash decided to restore the Eternal’s temple ⁷ because the wicked Athaliah’s subjects had broken into the True God’s temple and used its dedicated contents to worship the Baals.^[a]

The Levites did not act quickly as their king had demanded, ⁶ so Joash rebuked Jehoiada the chief priest for not properly leading them.

⁸ He had a chest placed outside the Eternal’s temple near the gate ⁹ and told everyone in Judah and Jerusalem to bring the money that Moses, the servant of the True God, commanded Israel to bring to the Eternal while they were in the desert. ¹⁰ All the officers and all the people were excited to help restore the temple, as they had been when it was initially constructed, so they all put their money in the chest until it was full. ¹¹ Each day the Levites returned the chest to the king’s officer, where the king’s scribe and the chief priest’s officer would empty the chest and return it to the temple gate. They emptied the chest every day because the people gave so much money.

^12-13 Joash and Jehoiada gave the money to the Eternal’s temple servants, who contracted masons, carpenters, and iron and bronze workers. These workers worked to repair, restore, and strengthen the True God’s temple to King David’s original specifications. ¹⁴ So much money had been collected that the workers were able to return the extra to Joash and Jehoiada and make gold and silver vessels and utensils for services and burnt offerings in the Eternal’s temple. Having completed the renovations, everyone was faithful to God and gave burnt offerings in the Eternal’s temple for the rest of Jehoiada’s life.

¹⁵ Jehoiada was rewarded for his faithfulness to God with a long life. He was 130 years old when he died, ¹⁶ and the people buried him in the city of David, Jerusalem, among the kings, recognizing how he had helped Israel, his own extended family, and the True God.

^17-18 Then the officials of Judah (who had abandoned the house of the Eternal One, the True God of their ancestors, to follow Asherim and other idols) came and bowed down to the king, convincing him to listen to their advice. Joash, in the absence of Jehoiada, then led the nation to abandon God. God was infuriated with Judah and Jerusalem. ¹⁹ In spite of His anger, the Eternal sent prophets to tell the people how they had sinned and that they should repent. But they did not listen.

²⁰ Then the Spirit of the True God possessed Zechariah, Jehoiada the priest’s son, giving him a message for the people.

²¹ The new advisors were so infuriated by his message that they conspired against him. Joash then commanded that they stone Zechariah inside the Eternal’s temple courts. ²² By murdering Zechariah, Joash ignored how kind Jehoiada had been to him.

²³ At the end of the year, the Aramean army attacked Judah and Jerusalem. It obliterated each of the officials who had advised Joash badly and sent the spoils to the king of Damascus, the capital city of Aram. ²⁴ Although the Aramean army was vastly outnumbered by the Judaean army, the Eternal exercised His judgment on Joash by giving the Arameans an impressive victory over the people who had abandoned the Eternal One, True God of their ancestors.

^25-26 When the Arameans left Judah, Joash was severely wounded. Now that the king’s supporters were dead, his own servants (Zabad, son of Shimeath the Ammonitess, and Jehozabad, son of Shimrith the Moabitess) conspired to kill him. They remembered how he had killed Zechariah, Jehoiada’s son. The servants murdered Joash while he rested on his bed and buried him in the city of David, Jerusalem. However, they did not entomb him with the kings, his own ancestors. The good things that he did while Jehoiada advised him were forgotten.

²⁷ More about Joash’s reign (including the names of his children, the oracles against him, and the details of the temple’s restoration) is written in the commentary of the book of the kings.

Amaziah, his son, succeeded Joash as king.